Rockwool Flexi Slab Installation

Hi Everyone, hope you all had a good Christmas and not too many hangovers.... Work has been limited since last post - everything done on site has been DIY. No sign of the brickies or Keith the roof - but to be fair the weather continues to be a problem, and everyone wants to be at home at Christmas. I have been busy installing the external wall insulation - here you can see the 140mm Rockwool Flexi Slab being installed in between the studs. On top of this will be a Vapour Control Layer, battens and then the plasterboard.

Joyeux Noel - Merry Christmas

A tous nos bloggers francais - Joyeux Noel et Bonne Annee!
To all our English Blog Fans - Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
A nice Festive scene taken by Lindsay today...

Comments Made Easier

It was brought to our attention that leaving a comment was a labourious process. We have now sorted that out, so leaving a comment/question is a lot easier. If using Anonymous please leave your name in the post so we know who you are!

Freezing Weather Stops Work

Unfortunatley due to snow and freezing weather, we decided that the site was un-safe for work today. Brickies turned up, but we decided that conditions on scaffold were too dangerous. With the Weather forecast set for more of the same, we have stopped work and closed site until after Christmas. Laying brickwork in freezing conditions is not a good idea anyway - if the mortar freezes before going off it crumbles and flakes and will need re-doing.
Bit of a blow but better safe than sorry..
It didn't stop me doing a bit of clearing around the site today - and i hope to get some of the ductwork for MVHR done during the Christmas break - you gotta keep chipping away at the work.. every little bit done means we are a little bit closer to moving in!

Thanks to everyone who voted on the poll - we have no idea when the build will be finished - obviously sooner the better, and were hoping that the poll would give us an idea. Unfortunately all options received the same votes! we do hope to be in before sep/oct - so if you voted for that - thanks a lot!

Battens On, Brickwork Makes Good Progress!

Progress on the brickwork has been good this week - Phil and Kelvin have done us proud. I can't fault the work they are doing and would recommend them without hestitation! so if you are looking for any kind of brickwork give these guys a ring.

Here you can see the blockwork we are going to get rendered. This is the right hand section of the house as you look at it (left hand side is exactly the same), we have put the reclaims around the windows and door openings to give the house a bit of continuity.

If you are interested in looking at Kelvins Website please visit http://www.reillymasonry.com/   His specialty is stonework, and you can see on his website some of the stone houses he has built, they are top of the range stuff. Below is Kelvin hard at work.

Keith The roof has also been to site and all the tiling battens are going on nicely.. Here is keith hard at work on a frozen roof..

Above is a picture taken from the field in front of the house, you can see here the batten work done so far, it is quality work again, and we are lucky to have tradesman who take pride in their work,.. 
We are pleased overall with the progress this week and we are in a good position coming up to crimbo..

Nearly Above Scaffolding

Phil and Kelvin have been there today - two brickie's makes a difference. Weather has been ok too - we are nearly above the scaffolding 1st Lift all the way around the house now. 
I am busy trying to get the Intake and Extract 160mm Ducting for the MVHR System through the walls so we can lay the brickwork around them - saves us smashing big holes afterwards..
Ducting arrived on site today, went for Lindab 'Safe' system in the end, and it worked out a lot cheaper than I thought it would :-) 

Reclaims Looking Good

We have made steady progress and 'Phil the brickie' has been on site all this week, laying as many of the reclaimed bricks from the old house as he can while the weather is good. Tomorrow 'Kelvin the brickie' is also starting, so we will have 2 brickies - and the weather is forecast to remain dry. If we get another week like last week I am hoping that we will be in quite good shape by Friday.

We are very pleased with the brick we reclaimed from the old house - sat there in a pile, they don't look great - but when you lay them properly and the brickie knows what he is doing, they look Fab! I am glad we went to the trouble cleaning them now because i was beginning to wonder if they were worth the effort.

No sign of 'Keith the roof' this week - but we are hoping we might see him on Tuesday - fingers crossed!

Good Weather Continues.......

More Good Weather today - so Phil the Brick did some more facing brick, leaving the block work for when the weather gets worse. No sign of Keith the roof today - but hopefully he is coming again at weekend. I was in work today - so no more insulation inside either. Limited progress but we plod on.... I will be posting more pictures of the interior at the weekend - just to show how the insulation is installed, it continues to dry out nicely inside, and despite the rain last night - no water made it through the roofing felt...Phew!

Blue Skies and Brickies

It's been a busy week - Phil the Brickie has started putting down the reclaimed bricks from the old house, and Keith the roof has put some counter battens on. So it's all starting to come together a bit.
The timber frame is actually finished - Hurray! - I think there was a lot more work in the roof than they thought, after a initial estimate of 5 days to complete the frame - it took 17!! (including a couple of days cancelled due to crane driver not turning up and high winds)
Also taken delivery of the insulation for the external walls - Rockwool Flexi Slab 140mm - and i have started to install this in the walls where possible.

Roofer Comes to Site

Keith Oldham, our roofer, and all round good guy, has been to site over the weekend (despite a bit of a hangover and man flu!). The 'high performance membrane' (roofing felt to me and you) has been put on the sarking - so at last we have a good chance of keeping the worse of the rain and weather out of the structure. It was a bit depressing going to the house and constantly hearing the rain running into the building - but now we are feeling a bit of relief - especially as the weather here is absolutely dreadful. The battens you can see have just been 'tacked' temporary - they will be removed and 'counter' battens will need fixing on. We did it this way to save time.
The Timber Frame is all but finished - but they are back tomorrow for what should be their last day, and the bricklayers start as well, so it will be a busy site...

First Pictures From Upstairs!

Exclusive to you bloggers - first pictures taken from upstairs! 1st pic is the master bedroom - 2nd pic is Georgias room - , pictures don't do the rooms much justice - but they are nice size. 3rd pic shows the sarking going onto the roof this is a manufactured board which firms up the structure and allows the insulation to be pushed right up into the rafters without stressing the roofing underlay. It also means you can pack in the insulation nice and snug - and the sarking will also help windproof the structure - eliminating all the draughts into the insulation, making it more effective - end result a nice warm house...(we hope!)

We have never had an 'upstairs' so this is highly exciting for Georgia and Alex....

Good Weather and We Edge Closer...

The best days weather we have had for near 2 Weeks - and the front of the house is taking shape. The dormer window went on today and the roof is all but done - just a few cuts to go. Revised completion day of Thursday - but we are assured that the frame will be finished this week!!

So Close - But So Far

Overall good progress this week - we are very nearly there with the roof, which should be finished Monday. So there is a little work on the roof, Sarking, barge boards & fascias. We are due completion Tuesday i would hope, and sign off on Wednesday. Then the roofer and brickies can be let loose :-) . Lindsay, Georgia and Alex have had a look round today - it's all very exciting now you can see how the rooms work. We are very pleased with the layout, nice big kitchen/dining room - the lounge at the front, and the view from the master bedroom will be great! Can't wait to get cracking inside!

thanks to all who have clicked on the ads :-) keep it up!!

2nd Floor Externals and Roof Trusses

The outer walls on the second floor are being installed today - and the trusses are on at last. Despite the worst weather for months - strong winds and rain - and one of the erectors being off sick - we are slowly getting there. Hopefully by the end of the week the roof will be complete and we can get the roofer on the job. Brickies are ready to go end of next week - so we will be putting the roof on and building external walls at the same time!!

Progress....Trusses up, Telephone Line Survives!

Progress made today - trusses up and telephone cables OK. Hopefully we are back on track and all will be completed this friday. Nothing should really stop us now, i don't see any tornado's in the weather forecast..... (yet...!)

Telephone Lines...and High Winds.....

Progress has been limited since last picture. All of the internal walls have been erected and the front section has been installed. We now have a completed ground floor as far as the timber frame goes. The trusses are on site but none have been lifted on yet. The telephone cable for the neighbours is still a problem - we have now got a Crane going to site tomorrow - the original machine will not do the job without bringing the cable down. The crane might get them up without touching it - but we still don't know for sure, the crane was supposed to be on-site this morning but high winds meant for 'elf & safety reasons it was cancelledt... so no progress today. Looking on the bright side - the weather forecast for tomorrow is good, so the crane will be there!! question is, will the telephone cable make it or not...... tune in tomorrow to find out!

The Fun Starts! so does the Welsh Weather....

The ground floor external walls are erected - just the front section missing. That has been left out because we have a problem (well we did say trials and tribulations...) . At the front of the house there is a telephone cable for next door - and it is proving a problem for the machine to lift the trusses on. It was pointed out to the timber frame company when they did site inspection - they said it wouldn't be a problem - but now it is stopping work.

Don't know whats going to happen tomorrow - it is going to be interesting to see how many trusses make it up onto the external walls. The erector wants a crane - but timber frame people say cable will still be in the way.

It may be a ten man lift job - in the pouring rain and high winds on wet scaffolding!! If it works out i'll be amazed!!! another update to come tomorrow!

Scaffolding Completed!!

Both lifts of the scaffolding, on 3 sides were finished over the weekend (B&J Scaffolding). As the house structure is erected the remaining piece at the front will be 'filled in' and give us complete scaffold for roofing and bricklayers. The front section has been missed off to give easy access to erect the frame.

Also in this picture you can see the lower floor external and internal walls stacked at the front, they have just been delivered. (picture taken first thing Monday morning)

Paddling Pool? No it's a House!

We've been neglecting you blog fans i know - but we have been doing lots on & off site since the last posting.

The slab has been completed - the concrete put in on top of the visqueen, we have also cleared some topsoil to stop the rain washing it into the road! (not popular with the neighbours!)

This weekend the scaffolding is being erected for timber frame delivery on Monday, then we will really be making progress, and by next week the structure of the house should be completed!

MVHR..

We wanted a house that was cheap to run, energy costs set to rise year on year. One of the ways we hope to achieve this is to install high levels of insulation, air tight membrane, and a MVHR unit. It takes a bit getting your head around it - it differs to the conventional way of heating a house - but hopefully it will work! The unit takes heat from the extract stale air and puts it back into the fresh air Intake, basically recycling the heat. The unit also incorporates an air heat pump which it uses to 'boost' the temperature of the supply air in cold winter months. As a back-up we are installing electric Under Floor Heating throughout the required areas downstairs, but hopefully this will only be needed in the really cold welsh winter days...

In Blue

Looks a bit like the start of a swimming pool.. all the 1200 guage DPM has been laid on top of the stone. The stone was well compacted and a blinding of sand was put on top, all joints in the sheeting were sealed with a double sided tape made specially for the job, it is all pretty standard stuff for building regs. Building inspector has been and passed it ready for the cement slab to be put in tomorrow. This will be 100mm across the whole building. We then have 70mm Celotex insulation on top of which the Under Floor Heating will be installed, and 70mm screed to finish to floor level, but these will be put in after the timber frame has been erected, which is not long now...

Site Security Manager

Don't be fooled by the cute exterior - our site security manager 'Mr Murphy' is due to come back home after 1 week holiday. Just to prove how 'tough' he is - he takes his holidays in Crewe !!!

Any undesirables even thinking of doing anything BEWARE - Murphy is on patrol!

Please see attached video of him in training - here he is practicing grabbing a thieves leg as he escapes over a wall! It is one of his favorite work-outs..

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

It's been a busy couple of weeks - Kelvin & Phil the 'Brickies' have done us proud - all the 'blockwork' was completed last weekend. It has passed building inspector and the rep from Lowfield was happy with the measurements today, they inspect for level and dimensions before delivery of the timber frame. Infact Lowfield Surprised me today - they are delivering on the 16th November and house structure will be completed by 20th!!!! thats only about 3 weeks from now!!!

Meet the Ground Workers

Wayne the digger driver and Patrick the Austrian insisted on 'being on the internet'. Wayne on the left - Patrick's the other better looking one, who can play the saw like Carlos Santana!!

Brickie Back On Board!

Took a phone call from the first choice brickie today - looks like he might be able to do the blockwork for us! Excellent news!

Concrete Pour

Concrete poured into the foundation trenches today, and the weather was good - very lucky! Wayne did a fantastic job with the digger and 'scooped' over the concrete from the delivery wagon.

Hopefully we can start laying the trenchblock and get the slab done soon, just one small problem, our first choice brickie is busy! DOH!

Foundation Dig

After all the planning and paperwork it's good to get things started. The foundations were 'dugout' today ready for the concrete to be poured in tomorrow.

Planning Application PASSED

We got the approval from the planning dept today - after a couple of amendments we are now happy with the final drawings. I found it a little surprising that Flintshire County Council did not want to see the reclaimed bricks before passing - but we're not complaining!

Site After Demolishing

This picture is taken from about the same place as the previous one. As you can see the original house is completely gone except for some 9000 reclaimed bricks and 5000 rosemary clay tiles. We decided that re-using the original building materials as much as we could, would be the most eco-friendly way of coping with the problem of waste (less going to landfill). Although there isn't enough brick to build the whole project with - reusing what we have will give the new house character - and will remind us of the old house and the memories we have of living there...

Old Delfryn

This is the house that we decided to demolish. Built in the 1930's, we lived there for 12 years. We wanted more room and initially we had plans drawn for an extension. The cost to renovate and extend were large, so we decided to wipe the slate clean and demolish. We have never built anything of note before - except a small extension - so this is going to be a learning process!!